Best Kill Tactic

[Swede]

Everyone here knows I am primarily a tree stand elk hunter, but lets get specific. What is the specific tactic you have used most commonly to kill elk? I want to read more than I spot and stalk or I call elk. What is the call tactic, or spotting tactic you have used?

Mine is waiting at a water hole, high in a tree with a bow, where trails and sign of fresh usage indicated frequent and recent elk use.

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

Tracking in fresh snow. Lone tracks peeling off from the main group are usually a bull heading to bed. A group of 3-4, with no calves in the bunch is also fairly likely to be bachelor herd. I've tracked solo cows before, but not often. The real trick though is learning to see them first in the thick stuff. I'm not great at that yet.

[Indian Summer]

You know I’m a spot and stalker Swede. Nothing beats seeing them from afar when they have no idea you’re there. But even then there are tricks of the trade. When I spot elk I pay close attention to exactly where they are. How high on the hill. Any prominent land marks... a big tree, a red rock or sun bleached deadfall. I also pay VERY close attention to which way they are heading. Uphill, slightly downhill... and how fast they are moving.

When you get over to the other side things always look a lot different and sometimes it can be tough to know exactly where you spotted them. The problem there is after covering ground fast you need to know how to make the final approach. When to slow down. Whether to come from above or below depending on the wind. Where that last bit of cover is that you need to be in to get the closest shot possible. The bottom line is to not get busted at the moment of truth. I can recall times where I screwed up and looked up to see a bull staring at me from only a hundred yards or so. What could have been an easy shot end up being a big disappointment as they turn and vanish with the blink of an eye. Getting it right at hammer time is the most important part of spot and stalk hunting.

[Tigger]

Joe, here is a little nugget that helps with finding them after you close the distance. Use OnX to drop a waypoint on them before you start the stalk. It almost feels like cheating it can be so easy. The execution is as hard as ever but the knowing where they were when you last saw them is easy!

[>>>---WW---->]

For me, calling is the only way to go. If I couldn't get them to respond to a call, I'd be just as well off hunting prairie dogs. It may take years of mistakes to get it right. But once you learn to back out if the wind isn't right and you learn how to direct traffic (especially for the lone wolf hunter) it can be the most exciting and challenging way to hunt. There just isn't anything like having a bull you called come in so close he blows snot in your face when he bugles.

[saddlesore]

All the above works,but for me the best one is be where you are going to hunt before it gets light. The first 30 minutes of legal shooting hours has always been the most successful to me.Whether watching an open area or entering the heavy timber to still hunt.Most hunters start moving at day break and push the elk ahead of them If you are not there when the elk move,they have already been there and gone. I have killed the last four bulls and three cows this way.

[Swede]

Alright WW. So you like to get elk snot blown on you. What is your tactic in calling them that close? How do you "direct traffic"?

[Indian Summer]

Joe, here is a little nugget that helps with finding them after you close the distance. Use OnX to drop a waypoint on them before you start the stalk. It almost feels like cheating it can be so easy. The execution is as hard as ever but the knowing where they were when you last saw them is easy!

Care to explain in more detail? I have OnX maps. I mean I could guess rheir elevation and location according to what I can see on n comparison to the contour lines. But mornings are best for me which means elk are on the move. So it’s not so much where they are when I see them but how fast they are moving combined with how long it takes me to get there to determine where they’ll be when I show up. Often it takes me an hour or more so they aren’t where I originally spotted them.

[Lsb]

Don't miss

[Indian Summer]

Don't miss

Or have misfires!

[Tigger]

I use a combination of the topo and the aerial to drop a pin on where they are currently and maybe another on where I think they are headed. then, when you get over there and it all looks different (funny how it always does, eh?) then you have 1 or 2 points that you know for absolute sure where they are. If they don't move, it is easy peasy. If they are moving, it gives you a couple of data points. I might also stick a pin on a place I want to get to (a knob, a place on a ridge, a thick spot, etc). That way I know for sure when I get there and for sure where the elk were. No guessing, less bumping.

[>>>---WW---->]

Alright WW. So you like to get elk snot blown on you. What is your tactic in calling them that close? How do you "direct traffic"?

Simple Swede! You just have to learn how to make your calls sound like where they aren't. You can cast your calls left or right. And the easiest one is to make them sound like you are going away. It's not so hard to figure how to do it as it is to learn those special little touches that will really sell it to a bull. But once you learn to make yourself sound like where you ain't instead of where you actually are, it opens up a whole new way to hunt. Clear as mud HUH!

[Swede]

Well WW you have stated to plan. That part is clear. Now it is up to us to figure out how to make it work, or is it how to sell it to the elk?

[southernelk]

I use a combination of the topo and the aerial to drop a pin on where they are currently and maybe another on where I think they are headed. then, when you get over there and it all looks different (funny how it always does, eh?) then you have 1 or 2 points that you know for absolute sure where they are. If they don't move, it is easy peasy. If they are moving, it gives you a couple of data points. I might also stick a pin on a place I want to get to (a knob, a place on a ridge, a thick spot, etc). That way I know for sure when I get there and for sure where the elk were. No guessing, less bumping.

I used the onx chip in my gps unit in my prior hunts. this was our first year using onx on our phones and I can honestly say I won't leave camp without it in the future. the offline feature is an awesome tool. we spot and stalk, and I agree with tigger, this makes it hard to mess up with a little cooperation from the elk.

[Roosiebull]

I like using all kinds of techniques, I do lots of locate calling, I like calling them into range as well, but no more than a different technique.

My bread and butter has always been "spot and ambush" I like just stalking all the way in, but more often, it's not the best approach.

I think for sure, the hardest part of elk hunting is physically locating them... not hearing or smelling.... putting eyes on them, or close branches popping... where you know exactly where they are, not a bugle 400yds off, but confirming location... once you get there, the finishing move is personal taste and confidence in whatever plan you use.

I like finding elk, and getting in front of them, and getting in their path undetected, that's fun to me, that is beating them at their own game like any other closing tactics.

This year, since I will be hunting a recurve, I will have to plan accordingly, and figure out a way to get a calm bull in front of me at 25yds max, the strategy will be the same, the details will have to change a little.

Everyone thinks what they do is the best and most challenging way, haha! Goes to show, lots of ways to do it, and none of it is reliably easy.

I hear people say they could kill a big bull every year the first week...but! They only want to call them in...yeah right

It always seems easier thinking about it than it really is. People do what they are confident in

[Swede]

People do what they are confident in

I suspect you are right. Unfortunately I know more than a few people (bow and rifle hunters) that have given up on elk because they just could not get one. They thought they could, and tried many different things, but nothing worked. After several years or more, they just gave up. After you have butchered a few of your own elk kills, you can legitimately build confidence and know if you do not succeed one season, you will soon.
If people hang in here on WT they will get a basic understanding on elk hunting and learns some tricks that will get them started on the right track.

[Indian Summer]

Amen Swede... that’s your best post ever. I struggled my first couple hunts. Now nothing discourages me. I’m super confident every day. I know there will be dead days so I just let them bounce right off me.

[Lefty]

Well I enjoy the variety In the desert I used two main techniques. Sitting and waiting in a blind, glassing and stalking. The blind worked well, glassing I have limited number of times I spotted elk.
.

My default method was when I woke up in the am head the direction of elk noises. Realistically that was my main method.1 of 5 or 6mornigs I would awaken to elk sounds. I was sleeping in a tent and could hear what was happening 0ut side. Really quite incredible .
I can tell you sleeping in elk country in a tent is much different than trying to sneak in with a truck or ATV in the early AM.
I would follow them until bedded and wait for the bull to make the rounds, or get in front of the herd.

I'm in the mountains now and use methods described in Elknuts Playbook

Don't miss

Or have misfires!

[ElkNut1]

I've been fortunate to take elk under a variety of methods, all can work under the right situation & terrain. With the various ways out there I prefer by a large margin to Call to elk to locate, move in then call them to bowrange, easier said than done! It's much tougher for me to call in & take OTC bulls over draw tag bulls that see less hunting pressure! The reason being is I need to be much more convincing in my delivery & communicate through emotion of sounds & not just make elk sounds.

My strategies used falls into 4 categories, these Tactics or Sequences are for specific elk, each have their place & can offer me the best odds when I use the correct one. Choosing the right one is simple, I listen to an elk & decide from there on their emotion, their emotion sends a message as to their mindset, sorta like your dog does to you.

Here's my 4 choices I rely on.

Cold Calling Sequence --

Advertising Sequence --

Slow Play Breeding Sequence --

Challenging Sequence --


Each has its place. The Slow Play one gets the most use in the course of a season. Bottom line, Calling works best for me, I even choose calling when I know I could ambush a bull, instead I setup & bring him my way, it's the ultimate adrenaline rush when compared to the other methods I've used.

ElkNut/Paul

[Lefty]

,,,,, it's the ultimate adrenaline,,,,, ElkNut/Paul

few things equate a bull elk charging in